slimjim2

How can he make the team better? They don’t even know if he will be able to run again and if he does get healthy he can't help the team until the second half of the season.I think they are desperate after not signing Vandervoort, it was supposed to be a shoe-in to sign Vandervoort.If they had picked up Vandervoort they would never have re-signed Fantuz

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letsgoticats

How can he make the team better? They don’t even know if he will be able to run again and if he does get healthy he can't help the team until the second half of the season.I think they are desperate after not signing Vandervoort, it was supposed to be a shoe-in to sign Vandervoort.If they had picked up Vandervoort they would never have re-signed Fantuz

He can make the team better by being a great possession receiver in the second half of the season. By time he comes back, I'm sure at least one of our receivers will be down with an injury. Depth is good.

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FenderGuy69

How can he make the team better? They don’t even know if he will be able to run again and if he does get healthy he can't help the team until the second half of the season.I think they are desperate after not signing Vandervoort, it was supposed to be a shoe-in to sign Vandervoort.If they had picked up Vandervoort they would never have re-signed Fantuz

1. In an article back on April 25th, it was reported that Fantuz was running already.

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"Talking to him about his rehab, I know he's doing extremely well. ... I think he's running right now," Collaros said. "I have no doubt that he's going to come back and be ready to play. When, I don't know, but when he does, he's going to be effective for us."

2. The fact that talk of him being re-signed became public back on April 25th from Austin himself almost 2 weeks prior to the draft says to me that the potential drafting of Vandervoort had nothing to do with the whether Andy was re-signed or not.

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"I think we'll have some pretty good news here soon," Austin said. "We'll just leave it at that.""We want him to be here and Andy wants to be here and we're just working through the situation," Austin said. "But I think we're going to come to a pretty positive conclusion shortly."

blackandgld

It is unlikely that Andy will available to start the season. He will however be able to join the team for the stretch run. Adding a National player coming off a career best 100+ catch season will be a MASSIVE boost for the team. He will be able to step right in and add all important ratio flexibility

letsgoticats

I'm very confused now. Is he just working as Coordinator of Player Development, and not actually playing? The press release is pretty unclear, as it mentions he's rehabbing, and extensively discusses his on field stats.

If they are giving him an office job until he's done rehab, this stinks of cap circumvention.

ottawacat

I'm very confused now. Is he just working as Coordinator of Player Development, and not actually playing? The press release is pretty unclear, as it mentions he's rehabbing, and extensively discusses his on field stats.

If they are giving him an office job until he's done rehab, this stinks of cap circumvention.

There's nothing stinky with this. Andy has been, and remains, a free agent player who couldn't pass a physical as being ready to play. So, he's accepted a job offer from the club in the Football Ops Dept. As an employee, he'll be welcome to use the club's facilities for rehab, under the direction of the athletic therapists and free to attend any meetings, he might be invited to. He can't practise with the team but can attend practices and do rehab on his own. It's a good, creative way for the club to help him through the months when he'd otherwise be getting no income. It was very, very unlikely that the TiCats, or any other team, would have signed his as a player to receive game cheques, while sitting on the injured list, for much, most, or maybe all of the coming season. When the free agent player is cleared to return to action, I expect he'll choose to sign with the organization that's helped him out with this off-field employment while he can't play.

I'm very confused now. Is he just working as Coordinator of Player Development, and not actually playing? The press release is pretty unclear, as it mentions he's rehabbing, and extensively discusses his on field stats.

If they are giving him an office job until he's done rehab, this stinks of cap circumvention.

There's nothing stinky with this. Andy has been, and remains, a free agent player who couldn't pass a physical as being ready to play. So, he's accepted a job offer from the club in the Football Ops Dept. As an employee, he'll be welcome to use the club's facilities for rehab, under the direction of the athletic therapists and free to attend any meetings, he might be invited to. He can't practise with the team but can attend practices and do rehab on his own. It's a good, creative way for the club to help him through the months when he'd otherwise be getting no income. It was very, very unlikely that the TiCats, or any other team, would have signed his as a player to receive game cheques, while sitting on the injured list, for much, most, or maybe all of the coming season. When the free agent player is cleared to return to action, I expect he'll choose to sign with the organization that's helped him out with this off-field employment while he can't play.

What's to stop them from doing this with a bunch of guys after training camp though? Cut them, give them "jobs" with the team, then let them use the facilities, and attend practice. Sounds sketchy, and I wouldn't like it if another team was doing it. Reminds me of the Riders fiasco with the extra practice roster guys a few years back.

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Palmer

What's to stop them from doing this with a bunch of guys after training camp though? Cut them, give them "jobs" with the team, then let them use the facilities, and attend practice. Sounds sketchy, and I wouldn't like it if another team was doing it. Reminds me of the Riders fiasco with the extra practice roster guys a few years back.

For me, the operative phrase is "He can't practice with the team". I think the problem in Saskatchewan was that the total number of players on active, practice and injury reserve together exceeded the allowable number. In Ottawa, the problem was that some of those on injury reserve were practicing with the team. Don't remember if that was the case in Saskatchewan or not.

I suppose the difference is that the Cats are doing something allowed within the rules, sort of like Toronto did with Kackert (?) acting as their strength coach until he was healthy enough to resume a position on the active roster. I don't see it as sketchy, but I suppose if an owner has deep enough pockets, he or she, could do as you suggest.